I woke up to a beautiful day, unlike the past couple of days when the sun did not wake up at all and the rains were having a ball. Not really a rain girl, I would rather laze in my warm settee than to enjoy the rhetoric of the rains.

It was early in the morning and the sun was already looking so beautiful. Series of memories visited me and made me unusually nostalgic. I handled my white and gold rim ceramic cup just filled with semi fuming Darjeeling tea with little milk and sugar. I like it with milk, I always have. Over the years, my taste for tea has changed, grown and have substantiated me. I have been a tea drinker ever since my late teens. My grandma, an addict and a beautiful heart, was the first to rise and make her and the family the first cup of tea. She only used to get going after her first cup. I, essentially being her flower child, used to love the little sips that would made me feel like her, more than anything else. Tea got me to its clings, literally, much later. I would love the masala chai loaded with sugar and milk. That was a phase which had its lovely moments. As I grew up, I found tea more enigmatic. The flavors are variant, distinctive and appealing.

Grandma left the legacy of tea drinking to me. In my family, now, it’s only my father and I, who relish the idea of morning and evening teas, teas for different occasions and weathers. We love everything that is good tea and how it is served. I believe in that the flavor changes or enhances with the right kind of serving containers. So, I stress on the right kind of cups for a different kinds of teas. My mother hardly drinks tea but has specializes on the art of making it on my insistence. I am picky when it comes to tea. My sisters and their family are occasional tea drinkers – something I appreciate. But when they are visiting us, I manage to tempt them to some relishing cups of tea. The idea of having it all together is really alluring and great fun. We serve it with lots of cookies, Indian snacks, love and gossips.

Things have changed over the years, we have metamorphosed, father has gone more bald, I have had my first grey hair sneaking out every now and then and grandma is no more. But our love for good tea is one good constant factor that has still gotten us all together to the morning tea table over a beautiful tea drinking ritual.

With pain in heart
And tears in eyes
My screaming soul
Is waiting for you….
Waiting to see
Love in your eyes
For me…
Waiting for chance
To be able to say
You mean the world
To me….
Waiting to see
trust in your eyes
for me…
Waiting for clouds
to shower on us
The rain of emotions
Flooding us….
Waiting for you….
Waiting to see
Tears of love
Showering trust,
In your eyes
For me…

“I really repent our breakup. I don’t know why did I leave you there and came to the US? I could have married you and brought you here with me,” Avik paused after saying this. Ria promptly replied, “Now what’s the use saying all this? It a past story,” Ria sighed and asked Avik, “How is your daughter and wife?” Avik changed the topic and said it was so great when we both were together. Ria replied, “Avik I need to get ready and go to my MBA class. I am logging off. Catch you later!”

It was almost after 7 years since Avik and Ria met again through Facebook. 7 years back they met, when Ria went for a vacation with her parents to Vizag and there she met Avik. It was on the sea beach where they bumped into each other and after a mutual apology and a small introduction, they both knew they were from the same city, Bangalore and was there on a vacation. Avik was pursuing his masters in economics and Ria was much younger to him, was in the twelfth grade. After that everyday Ria with her parents and Avik with his friends went to the beach almost at the same time, so they met, chatted and the day before Ria was leaving Vizag, Avik asked for her contact number and promised to be in touch.

Ria was back home and was busy with her studies and tuition. After almost a month since her vacation, one day there was a call for her. Ria received the call as both of her parents were working, she would always be alone at home during the day. A guy spoke from the other end, “Can I speak to Ria?” Ria said that she was speaking then the guy asked, “Do you remember me?” Ria was little confused but somewhere she always thought Avik will call someday. She had a doubt but still she made a wild guess and said, “Is it Avik?” Avik was very surprised seeing that Ria recognised him. They chatted for an hour Ria hanged up but soon it became a routine and everyday they chatted for hours during the noon as it was convenient for Ria, she would be alone in the house. Meanwhile Avik completed his masters and was planning to pursue his PHD in the US. He started applying online in different universities in the US. Meanwhile Ria and Avik became very close and started dating each other. Ria said about Avik to her friends and sometimes she would even call Avik from their cell phones. But after sometime Ria soon noticed Avik started avoiding her, she thought since it was her class 12, he was giving her time to study. Ria finished her exam but Avik was still behaving in the same way and his calls also decreased. Avik was Ria’s first love so she dint want to lose him. She tried every possible way to know why his behaviour had changed within few days time but all attempt was in vain.

One day during noon when Ria was having her lunch there was a call; she ran to receive the call thinking it must be Avik. She took up the receiver and said, “Hey Avik, I knew you would call me today..,” there was a long pause on the other end of the receiver. Finally a guy spoke, but it was not Avik’s voice. He said, “This is Avik’s friend. He had asked me to inform you that he has left for US and left a letter with me for you. When can I come and give you the letter?” Ria was dumbstruck after hearing that Avik left for the US but dint even bother to inform her. She said, “Come anytime but be quick. Let me see what he wants me to know”

The letter was in Ria’s hand after 2 more days. She read the same letter for more than 6 times and sat depressed with the letter in her hand and started to think how did all this happen? In the letter it was written,

“Ria I liked you from the very first day we bumped into each other in the sea beach. Soon with time we came close and our friendship turned into an affair. I trusted you and had a great respect for you. But one evening their was a call from your friend, basically she was my well wisher and told me about your multiple affairs which ran in parallel with our affair. She also mentioned that you are basically a flirt and play with every boys emotion. I guess I am lucky that she informed me before hand. I was very hurt Ria. But now my focus is on my PHD, so I’m better now. I thought that I must inform you why I am behaving like this and leaving for US all of a sudden.”

Ria suddenly remembered she used to call Avik from Sonam’s cell, so she is the only person who had Avik’s number. So she was the one who called Avik. She always was behind Ria, envied her good background, her looks and also her academic result. Ria couldn’t stop her tears. She cried and cried. Avik was her first love and losing him just for a misunderstanding was a very big blow for her. She was very angry with Sonam and thought soon she will meet her and teach her good lesson. Ria started to stay depressed and everyday she cried and cried. Days passed, month passed she took admission in an engineering college. Later she thought what’s the use teaching Sonam a lesson, Avik didn’t even verify all this with her, he just believed Sonam and ditched her.

Now they met again in Facebook, Avik is married with a kid and Ria is studying MBA, and soon she will join the IT hub. Avik would very frequently say her that it was his mistake, he would have at least asked her once. Then life would have been different now. But it’s a different story at Ria’s end. Its already been 7 years, and Ria is much matured now. Its true, time is the best healer, Ria is totally out of it; no strings are attached.

One day again Avik was online, she said Avik directly, “Avik now I chat with you only as a friend. There is nothing else in my mind. I have moved on – no more strings are attached to you. Since you still have a feeling for me, I guess we must stop chatting and be happy in our own world.” Ria didn’t even wait for an answer, she went to the friend list in her Facebook account and removed Avik from her friend list.

Any marriage is God ordained. If God had not willed it, you and your dear wife wouldn’t have come together ever. In a Christian wedding service, the pastor, after pronouncing them husband and wife also will make a statement right in the church “What God had joined, let no man try to separate them.”

Therefore if you find that some naughty guy is trying to create discord between them or a kind of suspicious atmosphere to make them shout at each other, we must hammer that fellow mercilessly. Don’t you agree? Such a home wrecker should be banished from the society and the land itself. Or, we should make him stand at the sea shore when there is a news of an impending tsunami so that he gets washed away and driven to the centre of the ocean.

But what do you do when the wrecker is not a human being but a ‘thing’, called coffee? Yes, coffee seems to have become a home breaker !

After considerable research, the scientists have discovered that if women drink cups and cups of coffee, their brain gets highly stimulated and would function with the greatest efficiency even during stressful situations. Actually, they would find themselves on top of Mount Everest.

But if the husband gulps as many cups, he will become dull and stupid and behave as if he were a vegetable. He is also likely to take wrong decisions.

Is this fair on the part of coffee – working in opposite direction in the same house and between two souls united by God Himself?

But then there is a plus point.. If a wife wants her hubby to cancel the Golfing session that afternoon, all she has to do is to give him two cups of decaffeinated coffee and presto he would immediately toss off his golf bag in a corner and yodel.

But as regards the wife, she will not only act like a super woman but also her risk of stroke will stand reduced by 25 – 30 percent. The scientists, may God bless them liberally, have further revealed that coffee may help ward off diabetes, liver cancer and scores of other dangerous health hazards, in women.

Although the scientists have not said so specifically, we may deduce that men will get heart stroke, diabetes and all other diseases if they drink as many cups as the wives.

Don’t you see a kind of formula herein that if you want to commit suicide and leave your wife as a widow, don’t go to the beach or collect a piece of rope and head for the fan to hang yourself but just walk into your kitchen and drink volumes of coffee brother, cup after cup and you will take off to the next world within a day !!.

A wag tells me. “All this is all right. Have you checked up the coffee price in the market? It’s very high, brother. Your budget may not allow you more than one cup per day. So, we are safe as long as the food inflation remains high, I mean both the husband and wife. They will never get to drink so many cups. Never.

Jiya was happily married to Avik and it was Avik’s occupation in Bangalore, which kept them far away from their hometown. It was almost three years they were in the IT hub of India and Jiya soon adjusted with the pace of the city and it’s inhabitants. Avik had rented a flat off the old airport road, near his office. Everything was running smoothly until Shiv came into Jiya’s life.

Shiv, a Punjabi guy; burly, tall and handsome. He was in the same apartment where Jiya used to stay and so they often bumped into each other either in the staircase or in the car park. Jiya only knew Shiv by his face and nothing else was happening until one day, when Jiya went for shopping and bought lots of dresses and accessories. She drove back home but she faced the hardship in carrying those loads of bags from the car to her flat. At one point two of her bags slipped her grip and with great difficulty, she managed to pick them up. Later when she was near the staircase, she tumbled down on the ground with all her bags skipping her step. Meanwhile Shiv was galloping down the staircase, when he saw Jiya on the ground; he went running to help her. He helped her to get back on her feet, carried all her bags, and helped her until she was comfortable inside her flat. After that, whenever they meet they started to spend some time in each others company, chatting on various topics. When Shiv learnt that Jiya was a Bengali girl, he requested her to send him some fish curry when she would cook it.

Jiya had a cook still she took the pain to prepare fish curry for Shiv and went upstairs to hand over the dish to him. He was a bachelor and lived with two other flatmates. It was Shiv only who opened the door after Jiya rang the bell for the third time. Shiv was surprised to see Jiya there. Jiya heard voices of girls from his room and asked Shiv, “Who are the girls chatting inside your room? Are they your girlfriends?” she winked.

“No Jiya, they are not my girlfriends, they are the friends of my flatmates,” Shiv replied. “I don’t have any girlfriend, Jiya, I am just waiting for the best match,” he smiled. Jiya handed him the fish curry and said “You asked me to prepare fish curry for you; here it is. Taste it and let me know how it is”

They didn’t meet again for next 5 days. Jiya was very anxious to know whether he liked her recipe or not. It was almost 6 months, since they started talking and chatting and slowly Jiya developed a soft corner for him. Every time they met, Shiv would always say, “Jiya why are you already married? Or else I would have definitely married you. I am searching for a trendy, good looking and someone with a big heart, just like you.” “Do you have a sister who looks like you? Then surely I will marry her,” he added.

She waited eagerly everyday at the car park hoping to meet Shiv and to know how the fish curry tasted. Finally, on the sixth day when Jiya was going to the market she saw him on his bike and a girl was behind him. He didn’t even look at her. She thought he must have failed to notice her. Later in the day, when they met on the staircase Jiya asked Shiv who she was and promptly Shiv replied she was his cousin!

Jiya believed him and started living in the unreal world where she and Shiv was always together. She was missing him and she called Shiv in the morning and asked him to meet her but he said he was busy and cannot meet her that day. Later that evening when she was coming back from gym she spotted Shiv’s bike in the parking. She was delighted seeing that and she thought Shiv must be in his room. She went upstairs and rang the doorbell no less than five times before he opened the door. He looked exhausted and he was surprised to see her there. He promptly said that he was busy completing a presentation for his office, but at that very moment a girl came out of his bedroom; she too looked equally exhausted. Jiya noticed her carefully and found that she is not even properly dressed. Jiya understood how busy Shiv was and she made a retreat immediately without saying a word. She came back to her repose and cried a lot. She asked herself why did she get into such things afterall. Avik had no fault and they were happily married then why she got lost in an unreal enjoyment in a world of utopia. She never found an answer but by then she realized that her real world was much enjoyable than the unreal world!